Summary: Here's a Fathers Day sermon that uses many fathers in the Bible as examples the legacy we can leave to our children.

4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Today we depart from our series of sermons on the life of David.

This is a Father's Day.

The fathers here today have children who are already grown up.

However, we are all grandfathers

so this sermon can be useful to us.

The tile of this sermon is

"What Legacy Are You Leaving Behind?"

Some fathers want to leave an inheritance.

A man died and a few weeks later,

his 5 children gathered at an attorney's office

to hear the reading of their father's will.

The lawyer opened the will and began to read,

"Being of sound mind, I will to my five children

not one penny! I spent every penny I ever earned."

I'm sure those 5 children were very disappointed!

Leaving behind a big sum of money is not important.

Leaving behind lots of material assets is not important.

There's something far more valuable

that fathers can leave to their children.

What is it?

It's called a "legacy"!

What is a "legacy"?

Webster's Dictionary defines it as: something (such as property or money) that is received from someone who has died. Something that happened in the past or that comes from someone in the past

The legacy most fathers leave to their children

is some aspect of their character.

We've all heard the saying - "Like father, like son."

or "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Or "He's a chip off the old block!"

Pat often says about our son Jeremy,

"He's just like his Dad."

Whether we like it or not,

children often do become just like their fathers.

Is that my opinion or does the Bible say it's a fact?

Today, we're going to look at some fathers in the Bible.

Point #1. Adam left a legacy of disbelief.

We all have one earthly father in common.

His name was Adam.

We read about him in the Book of Genesis.

He left a legacy to every person descended from him.

He left behind the legacy of sin.

He made the choice to disobey God

and we've all been disobeying God ever since.

Adam also left a specific legacy to his firstborn son, Cain.

That was a legacy of disbelief.

Suppose I offer you an apple, freshly picked, perfectly ripe,

And then said, "it's full of poison."

Would you eat it?

No! Because if you eat it, you will die.

You refuse to even touch it because you believe me.

However, if you thought I wasn't telling the truth,

you'd probably go ahead and eat the apple.

What did God tell Adam?

Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."